Employment and labour

Based on a national survey of professionals about precarious working conditions, the first of its kind, No Safe Harbour: Precarious Work and Economic Insecurity Among Skilled Professionals in Canada shows professionals across the country are not immune to the hallmarks of precarious work: no steady income, no pension, no benefits, no sick pay.

TORONTO – Despite their high level of education, credentials, skills, and even experience, 22 per cent of Canadian professionals are in precarious jobs, says a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ontario (CCPA-Ontario) office.

In this paper we estimate the impact of an extension of maximum EI sickness benefits beyond 15 weeks using Statistics Canada’s Social Policy Simulation Database and Model (SPSD/M). The model allows us to estimate how many people might use the additional benefit each year and what the net annual cost would be if the maximum sick leave were extended. The paper opens with a brief history of EI sick leave and a snapshot of annual usage patterns and costs. Results of the modelling exercise are then presented with a discussion of potential implications.

According to a popular apocryphal tale, the United States and Soviet Union both realized during the space race that a standard pen would not work in orbit. NASA spent millions of dollars to develop an “anti-gravity” pen that would. The Soviets used a pencil.